Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has praised the new leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, as a “bright figure” who will “strengthen” resistance against the country’s foes, Iranian state media outlet IRNA reported Tuesday.
Hezbollah named the Shiite cleric as its new leader on Tuesday, more than a month after his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Qassem inherits the leadership of a group once regarded as Iran’s most formidable proxy in its war against Israel but now significantly weakened by Israeli strikes.
Pezeshkian said that in the present context the “defense of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and the support of the “oppressed Palestinian nation” were “of historical importance.”
“I am confident that the presence of a bright figure with clear records like your excellency at the head of the Hezbollah group will strengthen the will in the field of resistance,” Pezeshkian said, addressing Qassem directly.
Messages of congratulation were also sent to Qassem from other high-ranking Iranian officials including Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and the head of the Iranian judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, IRNA reported.
